A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Search This Blog
Back to 500BC.
==========================
Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, June 24, 2017
Drug menace: What is going wrong?
June
26 is International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking—as
good an occasion as any to point out that Sri Lanka needs a multipronged
approach to eradicate its growing narcotics problem. Flinging people in
jail, where they continue to traffic and consume drugs, is no longer
adequate or sustainable.
Department of Prisons’ statistics show that in 2015, nearly half, or
46.4 percent, of prisoners convicted were drug offenders. This means
that, of the 24,086 who were sentenced, a massive 11,171 went to jail
for narcotics crimes. That is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The
previous year, the percentage of total convicts that were drug offenders
was 43.5 percent but it was 34 percent in 2013. The data show an upward
trend in the number of those getting sentenced for trafficking and
taking narcotics. The Government maintains these high conviction figures
are a result of improved law enforcement.
Data do indicate a rise in seizures. The National Dangerous Drugs
Control Board (NDDCB) has recorded 82,482 arrests in 2015—an increase of
23 percent over the previous year. But experts also believe the larger
numbers can be explained, in part, by more people pushing and taking
drugs. There are certainly bigger quantities of narcotics in circulation
now than in the past.
Cannabis and heroin are the narcotics of choice, in that order. The
Western Province is the most afflicted followed by the South. There is
now a risk of heroin (restricted, before the 1980s, to a few locals who
frequently travelled abroad and foreign tourists) spreading across the
country, if it hasn’t already. Among those arrested for heroin-related
offences, a majority are drug users caught with a few milligrams in
their possession for personal use.
This is consistent with patterns worldwide. A 2013 study by the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime suggests the global increase in
drug-related crime is driven mainly by a rising number of offences
related to drug possession, particularly in Europe and Africa. Moreover,
the vast majority of traffickers in prison were low-level offenders.The
estimated quantity of street level heroin supply in Sri Lanka is 985kg a
year or nearly 2.7 kilograms a day. This is sufficient for 45,000
heroin dependents. But, in 2015, only 47kg of heroin was seized.
One of the issues the authorities need to address is that, despite there
clearly being a widespread drug habit, as backed by statistics, the
number of users entering rehabilitation and reintegrating into society
is abysmal. Last year, there were just 2,355 addicts registered with the
official Drug Abuse Monitoring System. The prisons have treatment
programmes but, ironically, few takers.
The Government’s four rehabilitation centres can accommodate only around
40 to 50 patients at a time. The Civil Defence Force runs an outfit in
Kandakadu in Polonnaruwa. But with the bulk of users concentrated in the
Western Province, it is a challenge to get addicts to go, let alone
stay, there.
The private sector runs a few more treatment centres of varying quality.
The biggest impediment is a lack of funds. For facilities to be of
acceptable quality, there must be money to run them. But there is
precious little going into drug rehabilitation. And the returns are not
attractive enough for investors to take the plunge.
So, while new drug users enter the equation every year, there is no
system to draw and keep them away from this destructive dependence. This
contravenes international conventions that not only require drug
offences to be punishable but mention treatment as an alternative to
prison alongside education, after-care, rehabilitation and social
reintegration.
The absence of such mechanisms in Sri Lanka guarantees a high rate of
relapse to drug use, and the vicious cycle of supply and demand
continues, nourished by new entrants. The country’s national policy for
the prevention and control of drug abuse states boldly that “the overall
goal of the Government in relation to the drug problem is to reduce the
drug supply and drug use to the barest minimum possibly [sic] by 2010”.
The policy contains a comprehensive section dedicated to prevention,
education and training; and to treatment and rehabilitation of drug
dependents.
The numbers contradict any success the Government may claim in achieving its targets. By its own admission, law enforcement alone will not help eradicate the drug problem. It is time to take a long, hard, critical look at what is going wrong.
The numbers contradict any success the Government may claim in achieving its targets. By its own admission, law enforcement alone will not help eradicate the drug problem. It is time to take a long, hard, critical look at what is going wrong.
Save our heritage buildings
The Kompannaveediya Castle Hotel, a building which is more than 140 years old, has been pulled down to make way for a mixed development project implemented by an international company. In June 2016, the Archaeology Department wrote to the Urban Development Authority stating that the edifice was of historical value and must be preserved. But it neglected to gazette the building as a historical monument and in May 2017 granted permission to the developer to have it razed to the ground.
The Kompannaveediya Castle Hotel, a building which is more than 140 years old, has been pulled down to make way for a mixed development project implemented by an international company. In June 2016, the Archaeology Department wrote to the Urban Development Authority stating that the edifice was of historical value and must be preserved. But it neglected to gazette the building as a historical monument and in May 2017 granted permission to the developer to have it razed to the ground.
In its latter stages, the Castle Hotel had been a working class bar. The
descendants of Charles Henry de Soysa, who held ownership, were
repeatedly denied permission to carry out alterations or have it cleared
from that space on the premise that it was a heritage building. But the
might of an international developer was too much for the authorities to
bear and the Castle Hotel paid the price. What, now, will become of
similar edifices in Kompannaveediya, Fort and other areas? Studies, we
are told, have been done and buildings earmarked for preservation. But
there was much confusion over how the Castle Hotel had slipped through
the cracks.
With Colombo due to be converted into a modern megapolis, there are
legitimate questions over what policymakers and implementers have
planned for monuments that stand in the way of their lofty plans.
Countless cities around the world have made an example of the old
cohabiting with the new. Unless structurally unsafe, there is no longer
any reason why heritage buildings–their worth cannot be measured in pure
economic terms–must be pulled down.
Led by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the then Secretary to the Defence Ministry,
the former administration set about actively preserving historical
architecture while transforming the city into a modern metropolis. Fort
was identified as an area that had tremendous historical depth. The plan
was to put these buildings to use after renovation, restoration and
rehabilitation.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has himself expressed a wish to
conserve old edifices within a framework of urban redevelopment. On a
visit to Singapore last year, he saw how old courtrooms and office
spaces were turned into galleries that housed world-class art. But
somewhere along the line, the message seems to be getting lost. It is
time to put in place and carry out a clear policy as regards Sri Lanka’s
irreplaceable heritage buildings.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk